When We Were Young
by HazelEyesDontTellLies
Summary: Stories of Max and the Gang from before the Maximum Ride Series started. How Max and Fang met, when Iggy was blinded, escape attempts, when Jeb rescued them, and how they adapted to the E shaped house. First few chapters at the School.
1. The Boy Next Door

"Move it. " An Eraser growled into Max's ear and shoved her forward. She had to fight back the urge to so kick him. Where were they taking her, anyway? She'd never ever been in this wing of the School before; she'd never even been this far from the Girl's Nursery before.

She was worried but when she saw Jeb across the hallway she broke into a smile. Jeb was a White Coat, one of the stupid people who tested on her, but he was a nice White Coat and wasn't stupid at all.

"Hi, Jeb!" She greeted happily. Jeb looked down from his clipboard and smiled at Max, giving her heart a little tug. She didn't know why it did but she wasn't complaining, it was the good king of tug.

"Hello, Maximum." Jeb said in his warm loving voice. "My, what happened here?" He gestures to the bruise on her cheek that was already forming.

Max looked down shyly. She had forgotten that the Eraser slapped her when she wouldn't go with them before, and now there was a big, ugly, imperfect bruise on her face. Stupid Erasers.

"Oh, it ran into a door on the way over." One of the Erasers lied, his voice smooth and trustworthy. That stupid head and Max was _not_ an it.

Jeb looked at them not quite believing them; he knew Max was smarter than that.

"Well, she should be more careful." Jeb said not looking at her but the Erasers. Max had to suppress a smile because she knew what the sentence really meant, it was a warning, that the Easers should treat her better.

"Anyway," Continued Jeb, "Go and take her into the Holding Room." He gestured to the big door behind him and with that he disappeared down the hall. Max stared after him frowning for a moment before the Eraser opened the door and shoved Max inside.

It wasn't much of a room; it was more like a wide hallway with white walls that had rows and columns of cages stuck inside going all the way up to the tall ceiling. The experiments that Max could see flinched as she and the Erasers came in, probably expecting White Coats, but the braver ones dared to come to the edge of their cages and see who was here. Who was she? This new, small, girl with little wings tucked against her back?

"Get in." An Eraser growled, kneeling next to a small dog cage on the bottom floor he was holding the door open for her. A dog cage! What, they can spend a bazillion dollars experimenting on innocent children but they bought their cages at Pets mart?

"No." Max growled back, she didn't have to listen to them. She didn't have to listen to anyone. Except Jeb, and only 'cause she wanted to.

The Eraser froze in surprise, _"What?"_ His voice was the single most terrifying thing she'd ever heard, it made goose bumps run down Max's spine.

"I said _no_." She said slowly, trying to make her voice be the single most terrifying thing _he'd _ever heard, she wanted goose bumps to run down _his_ back. She wanted him to be scared of her.

She narrowed her eyes into a glare and squared her shoulders trying to look stronger and scarier. She thought she saw a boy with reddish blonde hair in the third row smile at her but she didn't bother to look. It totally would ruin the effect.

To her surprise, and crushing disappointment, the Eraser smiled. But not at her, at the Eraser behind her. Before she could even process what happened the second Eraser had lifted her up to force her inside the cage.

To her credit she put up a fight, it had taken both Erasers to get her inside. But eventually they had slammed her inside the cage. Really, _slammed_ too. Her head was pounding they'd thrown her inside so hard.

She had a bruise in the shape of a giant paw on Max's wrist, a bump on her head, a few claw shaped cuts on her legs, and was on the verge of having tears sliding down into her face from anger and frustration.

Her cage was so small and crampt she couldn't even sit up straight. The cages across her and the one to her left were all empty leaving her with a boy who was drenched in black clothes as her only neighbor. _He doesn't look all that friendly_, Max noted.

"Hi." She whispered shyly. He looked at her for a moment with no real interest before his black eyes flickered away to something else.

She frowned at him, hadn't he heard her? "Hi." She said again, louder this time. He didn't even bother to look at her.

"Can't you talk?" She asked concerned, she wasn't sure but she thought she saw the boy's eyes narrow. What the heck did that mean? Was he mad at her?

Well, fine! What did she care? She _didn't_ care. The boy could hate her she still wouldn't care. All she was trying to do was be nice, but apparently he was too good talk to Max. Butthead.

Max crawled over to the other side of her cage not wanting to even be near the boy. She crossed her arms and shut her eyes waiting for sleep to come. Who knew? Maybe she'd wake up and be back in the Nursery. Or, better yet, maybe she'd wake up and be normal without wings. Yes, that would be much better, waking up and having parents that loved her.

But Max didn't wake up with wonderful parents that loved her, of course. What she did wake up to were two White Coats standing outside her cage yelling at her to wake up.

She bitterly did as she was told, and then stretched out her muscles that had gotten very sore over night.

"Hurry up, you." A new White Coat said rolling his eyes impatiently, so Max stomped on his foot as hard as she could.

He had to stifle a yell, she saw proudly. He glared at her and scribbled something down on his clipboard.

"Subject already being difficult." He muttered under his breath before the second White Coat roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her out into the hall toward the experimenting rooms.

She swallowed nervously at the room she had been pushed into, it was The Maze. It was easy for most mutants but Max wasn't any good at it. She didn't have the patience and would always try to cheat.

The White Coat lifted her up onto the launch pad and explained to her what she was suppose to do in a monotone as if she had forgotten since the last time she'd done this, which was only last week.

The timer set and she was pushed off the pad and into the maze, she didn't have time to stop and think, they'd burn her feet if she did. So she just ran and ran and ran. They pushed her until morning turned to noon and that turned into night.

When they finally stopped her heart was beating fast, her tongue was dryer than a desert, she couldn't catch her breath, and she had burns on her hands and knees from when she'd fallen over and was too tired to get up.

It hurt to breathe and even more to walk because of her burns that stung like someone had rubbed lemon juice onto them.

She was exhausted but just couldn't will herself to sleep. She stared at her burnt knees that were now a raw pink and were slightly bleeding. _Stupid White Coats_, she thought_, why can't you just leave me the heck alone? _

Max curled herself up into a ball so her arms hugged her knees. She didn't know how it happened but just then her anger quickly melted into unbearable sadness and she was crying in seconds. Her shoulders shook, an endless stream of tears ran down her face, and her heart hurt badly. Whenever she willed herself to stop a sob would escape her throat and she'd be crying all over again. It was just horrible, what they were doing to her, she was only four!

She looked up from her knees, where she had been hiding, and saw a pair of dark eyes watching her with surprise and something she couldn't understand. Max tried to muster up a glare but it could hardly pass as a scowl.

_What does he want from me?_ Max wondered turning her head away from him but still feeling his intense dark eyes watching her. Was he just making fun of her?

"Hi." A voice whispered, taking Max by surprise. Ok, more like utter shock, whatever. She stared at her hands. Had she imagined it? She must have.

"Hi." He said again, louder this time. She practically did a double take, he had spoken! He _could_ talk.

"Hi." She said back, still surprised.

The boy cleared his throat looking unsure, "Uh, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," She said, unsure herself. "My burns just hurt allot. And I was lonely, I guess."

"I'm sorry. But you have me to talk to." He offered. _She could have talked to me instead of crying a river_, he thought eyeing a tear on her cheek that hadn't been wiped away yet.

"But you don't like to talk." She said as if it were obvious.

He was silent for awhile thinking this over, "I like to talk to you." He blurted, he didn't know why he had said that. What was the matter with him? But the way the girl smiled he couldn't bring himself to regret saying it.

"I like talking to you too." She said, were they friends now?

The boy slid his hand into her cage waiting for her to take it. "I'm Fang."

She smiled again, they were friends , she was sure of it. "I'm Max." She said taking his hand and shaking it like she'd seen Jeb and other White Coats do to each other.

The two smiled at each other. Oh, yeah. They were definitely friends now.


	2. A Fine Day for Surgery

Iggy kicked the door of his cage impatiently; he'd been doing it all day hoping the latch would break if he kicked it hard enough. He absolutely, positively couldn't take it here anymore.

The antiseptic smell and small cages were enough to make anyone sick after awhile, but for four years? It was, was just gross. He swallowed his wave of nausea and kicked at his cage again.

He sighed hopelessly; he'd be trapped here forever. With the stupid White Coats and their stupid tests and stupid needles. He hated the needles the most of everything, they really hurt.

He stared down at the tile floor two rows below him wishing he could escape and run far, far away from the School and take all the other children with him. Well, whatever children were left.

He glanced at the empty cages all around him, there used to be tons and tons of other experiments when he was first brought to the Holding Room. At least, two bajillion. Where had they all gone? Were they okay?

He swallowed nervously the more he thought about it the more nervous he got. Were they dead? Was he the last experiment? He crawled to the edge of his cage again and was rewarded with two pairs of human eyes staring back at him curiously. A pair of super duper dark eyes-almost black- and a pair of warm chocolate ones.

That calmed Iggy down some, he wasn't alone after all. The boy and the new girl from a few weeks ago were still here with him. Well not _really_ with him. He was totally alone and friendless rights now while those two had each other. _I wish I had a friend_, he though longingly, _a best friend. _A friend he could talk to and play games with and explode stuff with if he ever got out of the School.

The comforting thought was interrupted by the one door being slammed open crushing whatever poor empty cages were behind it. A few Erasers stormed in followed by a young White Coat. The White Coat was young, maybe in his late twenties, but his blonde wisps of hair were already graying.

The White Coat bent down onto his knees and the new girl crawled out flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder-hair kinda like the White Coat's, Iggy noticed, but without all the gray.

She stood next to the Erasers who playfully snapped their jaws trying to scare her, but she was super good at faking. She crossed her arms, unnaturally stoic, trying to hide the fact that she was shaking. She hated being afraid of them. Hate, hate, hated it. But they were much bigger then she was, much stronger, all it took was one of them to get too close to her and she'd be Eraser food.

The young White Coat then walked toward Iggy's own cage. This was odd; they almost always take one mutant at a time. Iggy waited for the White Coat to turn around and leave with the girl, but he just simply came over and unlocked Iggy's cage, scooped him up, and set him gently on the cold floor.

The White Coat took the girls hand and, surprisingly, took Iggy's too and led them out of the room and down the hall.

"Hi, Jeb." Max said quietly. She was usually excited to see Jeb; he was always the nicest of White Coats. But Fang had reminded her that he was still a White Coat no matter how nice. She couldn't forget that.

"Hello, Maximum," His voice was kind, as usual. Then he turned to the boy who had smiled at Max her first day in the Holding Room. "This is Ignite. Ignite this is Maximum."

Iggy glared at the White Coat. How did that stupid old White Coat know his name? Only Iggy was supposed to know it. He loved his name but he didn't like the White Coat knowing what it was. Introducing him to the girl like he couldn't do it himself, pfft! What a jerk.

"My name is Iggy." He said biting off every word.

"And mine's Max." The girl said just like Iggy did.

"And mine's Jeb Batchelder." He said playing along with their little protests. Kids. What can you do? "You're in for quite a treat today, Iggy. The scientists have made an amazing achievement! They think they can enhance your nocturnal vision by thirty-three percent! Isn't that spectacular?" He smiled at Iggy seeming to really mean what he said.

Iggy and Max glanced at each other. The two obviously couldn't trust each other yet, they had just met, but they could agree on one thing; they didn't know what half of those words meant!

"Jeb, I dunno what those words even mean. They aren't in my, uh, vocalaberry." Max said trying to sound smart but frowning at how the last word sounded in her mouth. That couldn't be right.

"You mean vocabulary?" Iggy offered. He'd heard some White Coat say it once but he wasn't sure what the word meant. Something about explosives maybe?

Max nodded thankfully, maybe the other mutant wasn't as bad as she thought. "And are they gonna enhancify my knocking vision, too?"

"Nocturnal vision," Jeb corrected leading them into an elevator that smelled like dust instead of drugs. How refreshing. "And no, you're here for a different reason, Max."

Max rolled her eyes. He wasn't even gonna tell her why was he? This is why you shouldn't trust White Coats, no matter how nice they are.

The elevator opened with a sharp"ping" and Jeb charged down the hall excited. He practically yanked Iggy's and Max's arms out of their sockets he ran down the hall so fast.

Max hadn't ever seen him like this, it was creepy, and it worried her. He was excited the White Coats were going to hurt Iggy and her just because they _could_?

Jeb walked the two kids in a room filled with other White Coats and then scooped Max up and set her down on a metal bed and told her to lie down. Max hesitated, did she trust him? She knew the answer to that. Of course she did, even though she knew she shouldn't.

So she smiled nervously at Iggy looking for reassurance deciding that she kind of liked him, he was friendly, and lied down like Jeb told her. Jeb strapped down her left arm and tilted her head up and slipped and air mask over her tiny face. He turned on the gas tank connected to her mask and her eyes slowly closed as she fell asleep.

She looked angelic in her sleep, Iggy noticed surprised. Not as tough and closed off as when she was awake. Jeb must have noticed it too because he bent down, soothed Max's messy hair, and kissed her forehead in front of the White Coats and the Erasers and Iggy and everyone.

"Uh, Dr. Batchelder, you best get going Dr. Ter Bortch and Dr. Rodriguez must be getting impatient." A girl White Coat said glaring at Jeb. He cleared his throat awkwardly as if he just noticed that he'd just noticed everyone was there and nodded. Reaching into his coat pocket he took out a small metal chip, like something from a computer, and set it down next to Max's ankle.

He took Iggy's hand hurried out the door and back into a maze of halls until they stopped in front of a giant intimidating door. Iggy felt one foot tall standing in front of it but followed Jeb inside, not that he'd have a choice either way.

Jeb picked Iggy up and set him down on the cold metal bed like the one Max was on. Jeb flashed him a quick smile before leaving him alone in the room.

The room was a pale mint green, the tables next to the bed were covered in evil looking gismos and gadgets and -Oh, God-_needles_. Oh, God. Oh, God. Iggy wanted to be anywhere but here. He wasn't at all reassured when three White Coats stepped in, even though one of them was Jeb.

"Vatchelder, remembor you ah here jest to observe." Ter Bortch said in a ridiculously strong accent. Jeb nodded and sat down in a chair across the room from Iggy.

Ter Bortch picked up a needle and flicked it twice. The second White Coat, Rodriquez, quickly grabbed Iggy's arm as Ter Bortch injected the needles contents into Iggy's neck and he felt numb in just a few seconds and the room was spinning all around him but he wasn't moving. In fact he couldn't move, couldn't even blink.

"Uh, Dr. Ter Bortch, are you certain that he should have that much ant-"

"Silence! You ah here to vatch, Vatchelder. Remembor your place." As they were talking a tingling crept into the side of Iggy's eyes and all that he remembered next was shouts of alarm and incredibly intense pain in his eyes.

Max cradled her small left arm to her chest wondering what had happened to it. She had woken in an empty room to find it hurting like h-e-double-toothpicks and wrapped in a heavy bandages with bits of blood leaking through it.

But she knew she was in better shape than Iggy. Jeb had come in just minutes before looking pale, way paler than usual. Blood was scattered on his scrubs and he looked horrified.

"Where's Iggy?" She's demanded somehow knowing something bad had happened to him. Jeb opened his mouth but no sound came out and he wordlessly closed the door leaving her alone once again.

Max eyes narrowed, still thinking about it_. What. Did. They. Do? _Was he okay? Was he even _alive_? Those meanie White Coats! _Meanie's not even a good enough word!_ She thought furiously.

She scrambled to her feet stumping toward the door and began pounding on it as hard as she could. Her left arm felt like it was on fire and but she couldn't care less. "Let-" _Punch! "_Me-" _Punch_! "Out!" She demanded each word followed shortly by a blow to the door but eventually she was exhausted and asleep in seconds.

When Max woke she was being cradled by Jeb walking down the hall, back to the Holding Room probably. He was rocking her back and forth like a dad would do to his baby girl.

"Jeb?" She whispered, lifting her head from his shoulder where it had been resting, her voice was scratchy and dry. "What happened to my arm? Why are they doing this stuff?"

Jeb was quiet for a few minutes unsure what to tell her. "You're very special, Max," He said finally. "You're going to do very important things one day." His voice was like a soothing lullaby and Max's eyes almost drifted shut but she couldn't fall asleep yet. She needed some answers.

"But you're not the best, not yet. We're here to make sure you live up to your potential. That's why everyone's here, Max." Max just noticed that Iggy was cradled on Jeb's other side asleep. He had bandages over his eyes. "Now go to sleep, Max." He said, and like a little switch going off in her head she was asleep as Jeb gently sung a lullaby into her ear.


End file.
